Getting started with basic electronics is easier than you might think. This Instructable will hopefully demystify the basics of electronics so that anyone with an interest in building circuits can hit the ground running. This is a quick overview into practical electronics and it is not my goal to delve deeply into the science of electrical engineering. If you are interested in learning more about the science of basic electronics, Wikipedia is a good place to start your search.

By the end of this Instructable, anyone with an interest to learn basic electronics should be able to read a schematic and build a circuit using standard electronic components

Step 1: Electricity

There are two types of electrical signals , those being alternating current (AC), and direct current (DC).

With alternating current, the direction electricity flows throughout the circuit is constantly reversing. You may even say that it is alternating direction. The rate of reversal is measured in Hertz, which is the number of reversals per second. So, when they say that the Nigerian power supply is 50 Hz, what they mean is that it is reversing 100 times per second (twice per cycle).

With Direct Current, electricity flows in one direction between power and ground. In this arrangement there is always a positive source of voltage and ground (0V) source of voltage. You can test this by reading a battery with a multimeter.For great instructions on how to do this, check out https://learn.adafruit.com/multimeters/ (you will want to measure voltage in particular).
Speaking of voltage, electricity is typically defined as having a voltage and a current rating. Voltage is obviously rated in Volts and current is rated in Amps. For instance, a brand new 9V battery would have a voltage of 9V and a current of around 500mA (500 milliamps).

Electricity can also be defined in terms of resistance and watts. We will talk a little bit about resistance in the next step, but I am not going to be going over Watts in depth. As you delve deeper into electronics you will encounter components with Watt ratings. It is important to never exceed the Wattage rating of a component, but fortunately that Wattage of your DC power supply can easily be calculated by multiplying the voltage and current of your power source.
If you want a better understanding of these different measurements, what they mean, and how they relate, check out this informative video on Ohm's Law.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-jX3dezzMg

Please continue, or give link on where to find more knowledge on this. Thanks

nice one

Step 2: Circuits

A circuit is a complete and closed path through which electric current can flow. In other words, a closed circuit would allow the flow of electricity between power and ground. An open circuit would break the flow of electricity between power and ground.

Anything that is part of this closed system and that allows electricity to flow between power and ground is considered to be part of the circuit.

Step 3: Resistance

The next very important consideration to keep in mind is that electricity in a circuit must be used.

For instance, in the circuit above, the motor that electricity is flowing through is adding resistance to the flow of electricity. Thus, all of the electricity passing through the circuit is being put to use.

In other words, there needs to be something wired between positive and ground that adds resistance to the flow of electricity and uses it up. If positive voltage is connected directly to ground and does not first pass through something that adds resistance, like a motor, this will result in a short circuit. This means that the positive voltage is connected directly to ground.

Likewise, if electricity passes through a component (or group of components) that does not add enough resistance to the circuit, a short will likewise occur (see Ohm's Law video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-jX3dezzMg.

Shorts are bad because they will result in your battery and/or circuit overheating, breaking, catching on fire, and/or exploding.

It is very important to prevent short circuits by making sure that the positive voltage is never wired directly to ground.

That said, always keep in mind that electricity always follows the path of least resistance to ground. What this means is that if you give positive voltage the choice to pass through a motor to ground, or follow a wire straight to ground, it will follow the wire because the wire provides the least resistance. This also means that by using the wire to bypass the source of resistance straight to ground, you have created a short circuit. Always make sure that you never accidentally connect positive voltage to ground while wiring things in parallel.

Also note that a switch does not add any resistance to a circuit and simply adding a switch between power and ground will create a short circuit.

If you are really interested in creating circuits and physically you could buy the components from an electronics parts store. You could also do it virtually through circuit wizard. I will post a download link later so you could download circuit wizard. It is a must have for any electronics student.

https://www.4shared.com/rar/ug9KHk5Rce/Circuit_Wizard.html
You can download circuit wizard from this link

I am interested

Following real hard, enjoying this class, thanks bro

Good thread but I will like us to find a way of harmonizing the pieces of these circuits together in order to bring great work out of it.

Emusan:
Good thread but I will like us to find a way of harmonizing the pieces of these circuits together in order to bring great work out of it.

I will like us to build a charger using battery

Emusan:
Good thread but I will like us to find a way of harmonizing the pieces of these circuits together in order to bring great work out of it.

We will get there

Step 4: Series vs. Parallel

There are two different ways in which you can wire things together called series and parallel.

When things are wired in series, things are wired one after another, such that electricity has to pass through one thing, then the next thing, then the next, and so on.

In the first example, the motor, switch and battery are all wired in series because the only path for electricity to flow is from one, to the next, and to the next.

When things are wired in parallel, they are wired side by side, such that electricity passes through all of them at the same time, from one common point to another common point parallel

In the next example, the motors are wired in parallel because the electricity passes through both motors from one common point to another common point.

in the final example the motors are wired in parallel, but the pair of parallel motors, switch and batteries are all wired in series. So, the current is split between the motors in a parallel fashion, but still must pass in series from one part of the circuit to the next.

If this does not make sense yet, do not worry. When you start to build your own circuits, all of this will start to become clear.

Step 5: Basic Components

In order to build circuits, you will need to become familiar with a few basic components. These components may seem simple, but are the bread and butter of most electronics projects. Thus, by learning about these few basic parts, you will be able to go a long way.

Bear with me as I elaborate as to what each of these are in the coming steps.

Step 6: Resistors

As the name implies, resistors add resistance to the circuit and reduces the flow of electrical current. It is represented in a circuit diagram as a pointy squiggle with a value next to it.

The different markings on the resistor represent different values of resistance. These values are measured in ohms.

Resistors also come with different wattage ratings. For most low-voltage DC circuits, 1/4 watt resistors should be suitable.

You read the values from left to right towards the (typically) gold band. The first two colors represent the resistor value, the third represents the multiplier, and the fourth (the gold band) represents the tolerance or precision of the component. You can tell the value of each color by looking at a resistor color value chart.

Or... to make your life easier, you could simply look up the values using a graphical resistance calculator. http://www.dannyg.com/examples/res2/resistor.htm, http://www.ohmslawcalculator.com/resistor-colour-chart

Anyhow... a resistor with the markings brown, black, orange, gold will translate as follows:

1 (brown) 0 (black) x 1,000 = 10,000 with a tolerance of +/- 5%

Any resistor of over 1000 ohms is typically shorted using the letter K. For instance, 1,000 would be 1K; 3,900, would translate to 3.9K; and 470,000 ohms would become 470K.

Values of ohms over a million are represented using the letter M. In this case, 1,000,000 ohms would become 1M.

lilcutie8916:
We will get there

OK, let's take a step forward

I don't know why for a while i couldn't post on this thread

Am an electronics big fan

Please op let's build something as suggested by someone above